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1. Field of the Invention
The apparatus of the present invention relates to refrigeration lines. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system for protecting a substantially flexible refrigeration line during construction of a building, so that if a crimp occurs in the line, the crimped area can be removed and the line can be safely spliced exterior to the building.
2. General Background of the Invention
It is very common in the construction of buildings, particularly where buildings are constructed with an outer wall or brick or like material, that the refrigeration which may be placed within the building includes a flexible line that would extend to the exterior of the building which may then connect to one or a series of compressor systems for providing the necessary flow of refrigerant into the building to the inside evaporator coil. Since the flexible line is usually a large copper or other type of material line which is then insulated, the line must exit the building normally through an opening in the wall of the building so that the line can go through the opening and can go out into the exterior part interconnecting the compressor system. Since this must be done during construction, there is a possibility that at the point that the soft flexible copper line extends from the wall of the building, it is susceptible to being damaged or crimped by inadvertent dropping of things on the line or contact with the line with construction materials. When such a crimping occurs, it may occur at the very point that the line exits the building wall. If this is the case, it is very difficult to reshape the line; so therefore, normally the line must be cut at some point prior to the crimp and the remainder of the line spliced to replace the portion that has been cut from the line. If one could imagine that if the crimp occurs right at the edge of the outer face of the wall, then there is very or no line that can be cut since the line is interior to the building and presents quite a problem. Also, there is a danger of high heat present when soldering repair is performed. Therefore, there is a need in the art that this problem be addressed which will be done by the present invention.
The method and apparatus of the present invention solves the problems in the art in a simple and straight forward manner. What is provided is a protector system for a soft flexible refrigeration line as it exits an exterior wall of a building. The system comprises an elongated inflexible tube, made of PVC or the like material, which extends through an opening in the wall of the building, with a portion of tube extending into the gap between the interior and the exterior wall, and a portion of the tubing extending outside of the wall. The refrigeration line would run through the tube, and extend from the outer most end of the tubing projecting out from the wall. There would further be provided a cut or etched line around the exterior portion of the tube, so that should the soft flexible refrigerant line which extends from the outer end of the tube be crimped at that point, the part of the exterior tube extending from the cut or etched line could be then snapped or cut off, which would expose a portion of the flexible refrigerant line that is not crimped. The flexible line could then be cut at that point, and the splice be made easily while the line is still exterior to the building.
Therefore, it is a principal object of the present invention to provide a system for allowing the restoration and splicing of a soft refrigerant line in the event crimping occurs in the line exterior to the outer wall of the building;
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a system which protects a refrigerant line extending from exterior to a building and allows for easy splicing of the line should a crimp occur in the line;
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method of protecting a soft refrigerant line extending from the exterior of a building so that should a crimp occur in the line, the steps can be taken to cut the line and splice new line onto the refrigerant line so that it can be used.